Banbury motorist calls for regular reports on road works after being affected by A361 closure
A motorist has called for regular reports of roadworks to be published in the Banbury media after being held up by an unexpected road closure.
The man, who is a resident of the Bloxham Vale estate, Banbury said the public should be given advance notice of such as the ‘rolling’ closure of the A361 Bloxham Road which took place in the past week.
"I see from various yellow temporary road signs (supplemented by the One Network web site), that the A361 is subject to unspecified rolling closures believed to be for resurfacing work,” he said.
"I would have expected this significant work on one of the busiest roads in the town to be publicised in the local media.
“Surely this type of interruption to normal travelling is something the media should be communicating in advance and in detail to reduce the inconvenience to the community.”
The Banbury Guardian contacted Oxfordshire Highways Authority offering to publish a weekly or monthly roadworks report.
A spokesman said: “This work was part of our £7.4m countywide surface dressing programme. This work is highly weather dependent and cannot be completed in wet conditions, which affects how much notice can be given.
“Signs are installed approximately two weeks ahead of planned road closures. Because work cannot be carried out in wet conditions, the signs provide a date range rather than a specific date, and state the road will be closed for one day within the specified range.
“Directly affected properties receive a letter with the planned date of attendance (so they can ensure vehicles are not left on the highways being treated), although Bloxham Vale was not included as it was outside of the physical closure.
“The length of the road closures generally range from two - eight hours, depending on the specifics of the site.
“We would remind motorists to stick to the advisory 20mph speed limits on recently treated roads until the warning signs are removed. Driving too fast can result in broken windscreens or chipped paintwork, as the friction from tyres can dislodge loose chips. There is also an increased risk of skidding while the new chippings ‘bed in’.”
A ‘live’ map of the resurfacing areas can be found here.
The authority did not respond to the offer to publicise a regular list of roadworks.